ETHNOGRAPHY

OF

EUROPE AND ASIA.

CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF THE WHOLE SUBJECT.-DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW.-SUBDIVISIONS.

SECTION 1.-General Observations.

WHEN the geographical circumstances of Europe and Asia are compared with those of the two other great regions of the earth, namely Africa and America, they appear to be in many respects very different. Each of the latter continents is not only cut off in a great measure by seas from the rest of the world, but is likewise intersected by chains of mountains, or separated by vast wildernesses or other barriers into insulated tracts, the inhabitants of which may be said to have been shut up from immemorial ages within the limits of countries, where they appear to have been first collected into nations. Hence may have resulted, in part, those strongly marked varieties which are observed in the physical characters of particular races, secluded during thousands of years within narrow limits and subjected to the influence of the same external agencies. Europe and Asia, on the other hand, form one vast region, separated by no boundaries which are difficult to surmount. Races of wandering shepherds of such consisted in early times a great part of

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the human family-have been here accustomed frequently to traverse immense spaces, and to make but temporary abodes under particular climates. Repeated migrations from one region to another are recorded in history, which have in many instances changed the social condition, and have even renewed the population of extensive countries. Owing to such interchanges of inhabitants between different tracts, it has come to pass that the same tribes of people, or nations nearly related to each other, are found spread through the most distant parts of Europe and Asia.

From these considerations several remarks arise, as to the method in which we must enter on the following inquiry, and on the collateral subjects of research which are to be kept in view as we proceed.

First. As it is a fact that several of the most widely spread, and some of the most numerous families of nations, are dispersed over different parts of Europe and Asia, we must consider these continents as one region, having a common stock of inhabitants.

Secondly. The dispersion of the same races over countries widely separated and situated under different climates, especially when the dispersed tribes can be proved to have occupied their present abodes from remote times, affords us many opportunities of estimating the influence of physical causes in modifying the characters of organization. In order to draw any certain results from these facts, it will be necessary to trace with accuracy the proofs of connexion between nations supposed to be of kindred origin, wherever such nations are found dispersed. This will lead us into a series of inquiries respecting the history of several races of men, as deduced from a comparison of their languages, religions, and whatever peculiar traits may contribute to throw light on their origin and affinities.

Thirdly. In tracing the varieties which appear in the organic types of particular races, we must be especially attentive to the circumstances under which they have taken place, in order to arrive at a true theory respecting their causes. The agencies from which such changes may be supposed likely to result, are of two kinds; first, alterations

in the moral state of particular tribes; and, secondly, changes which may have taken place in the physical conditions under which they have existed. Of the former we have examples in the history of nations, who, from being nomadic wanderers, have become settled as tillers of the soil or inhabitants of towns. In these instances we discover considerable changes in the organic character of races whose state has been thus modified. Of changes of the latter kind we have more. numerous examples. In the continents of Europe and Asia are countries placed under almost every variety of climate and local situation, from the coldest region in the arctic zone habitable by man, to the greatest heat of the intertropical space, and from the lofty plains of High Asia, which are the greatest projection existing on the surface of our planet, to low tracts scarcely raised above the ocean, or, in some instances, depressed below its level. This part of our investigation will render it necessary to observe the most remarkable features in the physical geography of particular countries. In taking a very general survey of this subject, we may remark, that the climates of Asia may be divided into three great departments, and that in the races of men respectively inhabiting them, some physical differences are very manifest. These divisions. are, first, the intertropical region of Asia, inhabited by nations of a dark complexion, and other peculiar characters; secondly, the cold and elevated table-lands of Great Tartary and Eastern Siberia, inhabited principally by races who resemble the Mongolians and the Chinese; and, thirdly, the temperate countries in the west of Asia, the inhabitants of which resemble in physical characters the nations of Europe. That there is some connexion between the physical condition of these several regions, and the organic peculiarities of the tribes by which they are inhabited, is too obvious to require proof; but whether such peculiarities are original characters belonging to different races fitted by their natural qualities to exist in the countries where they are respectively found, as different species of animals are by organization adapted to particular regions, or are varieties produced by the agency of local circumstances; in other words, whether they are permanent characters, or are liable to be modified in tribes